House Staging Tips

Home staging tips in Bayville, NJ Beachwood, NJ Brick, NJ Toms River, NJ Ocean County, NJ

When it comes to selling your home, you want it to appear its best for any potential buyers that come in the door. This is where house staging tips comes in. Home staging is a type of decoration that emphasizes your home’s best features and allows potential buyers to visualize themselves living there. If you do everything correctly, you should have no trouble selling your home quickly.

BEGIN WITH CURB APPEAL

First impressions count, so make your house stand out from the crowd and you’ll have buyers pulling up to the curb in no time. Some improvements can be completed in a weekend and will cost more in sweat equity than money. Here are some house staging tips outside: 

  • To clean dirt and grime from your siding, roof, fascia, and gutters, rent a pressure washer. 
  • If you want to paint the front door and/or shutters a bright color, be sure it goes with the rest of the house’s hues. 
  • Old house numbers, lighting, the mailbox, and the welcome mat should all be replaced. 
  • Clean up the flower gardens’ edging and replace the mulch. 
  • Plant tiny shrubs, seasonal flowers, and foliage in vacant beds. 
  • Get a couple of urns or huge planters and fill them with small evergreen shrubs and cold-hardy annuals, even if it’s the dead of winter. 
  • Fill any window boxes you have with fresh plants as well. 
  • If your porch or stoop has space for furniture, add a couple of chairs to make your outdoor sitting space more comfortable.

GIVE YOUR KITCHEN A MAKEOVER

Kitchens are where people buy houses, so any improvements you make there have the potential to go a long way. They don’t have to be expensive. The following house staging tips can be done with just a little elbow grease:

  • Begin by displaying your storage. Pack up the rarely used small appliances and holiday dishware for your future home, and use up all of the pantry’s dry items. 
  • Remove any debris from the counters. 
  • Consider painting your cabinets a fresh coat of paint in a classic white or a dark neutral such as gray or slate blue. For a simple DIY, at the very least, replace the obsolete hardware. 
  • A rusted faucet or one caked with hard-water stains is a turn-off; replace it with one that has more flair and function. 
  • Rather than replacing the dishwasher, investigate whether the manufacturer sells replacement panels for your particular model. If not, you can use peel-and-stick contact paper to give your dishwasher and other equipment the appearance of stainless steel. 
  • Try peel-and-stick imitation tile, tin tile, beadboard paneling, or painting the existing tile to modernize a backsplash on the budget.

FURNITURE SHOULD BE MINIMIZED IF POSSIBLE

Getting rid of clutter is the most critical thing you can do to prepare your property for sale. Having too much furniture is one of the key contributors to a cluttered appearance. When professional stagers arrive at a home that is being prepared for sale, they often remove up to half of the owner’s belongings in order to make the space appear larger. You want potential purchasers to be able to move freely around each space. Make sure they have easy access to the nicest aspects of your home, such as the fireplace or built-in bookshelves, and that they can see out all of the windows. Avoid a cluttered look by keeping stuff on the coffee table to a minimum and not stacking the couch with so many cushions that no one can sit on it.

CONSIDER REARANGING FURNITURE

It’s a frequent misconception that pushing all of the furniture toward the walls will make a space feel bigger, but this isn’t true. Rather, decorate your room by floating furniture away from the walls. Rearrange sofas and chairs into nice conversational groups, and arrange furniture such that the room’s traffic flow is evident. This will not only make the area more user-friendly, but it will also open it up and make it appear larger.

MAKE MORE USABLE OFFICE SPACE

Because more individuals are working from home these days, and homeschooling is becoming more widespread, a workspace may be necessary for your prospective purchasers. Carve out a nook in a spare bedroom, a corner of the living room, or even a closet if you don’t have a whole area to dedicate to a home office.

DEPERSONALIZE

Potential buyers want to imagine themselves in your home, which is difficult to do if all they see are your personal belongings. 

  • Remove family portraits 
  • Artwork from your children 
  • Framed diplomas 
  • Miscellaneous personal items 

Replacing these objects with generic artwork will help potential buyers envision themselves in your home.

HIGHLIGHT STORAGE

Storage is typically a top priority for buyers. 

  • Declutter your closets and cabinets to show off yours. 
  • Store goods in similar baskets and canvas bins to keep closets tidy. 
  • To showcase the versatility of your storage, use shoe racks and under-shelf baskets. 
  • Straighten out the linen cupboard and add a couple of satchels of potpourri so purchasers are greeted by fresh-smelling linens and towels when they come inside.

BATHROOMS SHOULD SHINE

Scrub all of the bathrooms, then do it all over again. A filthy bathroom will put off a potential buyer more than anything else. 

  • Remove hard-water stains from faucets
  • Check for mildew 
  • Declutter your vanity and medicine cabinet by whittling down your cosmetics and items
  • Shower curtains, carpets, and bathmats should all be replaced (you can always take them with you when you move). 
  • Consider getting the tile redone if it appears to be worn. 
  • If your grout is discolored, a $15 container of grout stain will solve the problem. 
  • If the caulk surrounding the tub or shower is moldy, scrape it out with a razor blade and re-caulk the entire area. 
  • After you’ve finished cleaning, add fluffy white towels, candles, a few luxury soaps, and apothecary-style decorations to create a spa-like atmosphere.

FILL YOUR HOME WITH GREAT SMELLS

A pleasant odor has an instant impact on how we feel and think. Make sure your property is loaded with pleasant fragrances to put your potential purchasers in the appropriate mindset. Let’s face it, we don’t always notice the subtle odors in our homes, which can be caused by things like:

  • Pets
  • Mustiness from the basement
  • A leftover meal 

To assist in making a good first impression: 

  • Place a diffuser at the foyer 
  • Add a fragrant candle on the stove in the kitchen, preferably one that smells like vanilla, sugar cookie, or strawberry. 
  • Place a vase full of fragrant flowers, such as jasmine, lilac, or roses, in the living room. 
  • In the bathrooms and bedrooms, use plug-in air fresheners.

BOOST LIGHTING

Great lighting is one of the elements that makes staged homes look so warm and inviting. Increase the wattage of your lighting fixtures and bulbs. For every 50 square feet, aim for a total of 100 watts. 

Also, don’t rely just on one or two light fixture in each room. Make sure you have three different kinds of lighting: 

  • Ambient (general or above) 
  • Task (pendant, under-cabinet, or reading) 
  • Accent (pendant, under-cabinet, or reading) (table and wall)

SIGNS OF PETS SHOULD BE REMOVED

We appreciate how much you love your dogs (we do, too), but odors from pets or allergies to fur and dander may turn off potential buyers. Clean thoroughly and add air fresheners to the places where your pets spend the most of their time. Throw the pet beds, crates, toys, food dishes, and litter boxes in your car when potential buyers call, then take Fido or Fluffy for a walk in the park.

MAKE USE OF COLOR TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE RIGHT AREAS

In a small space like a powder room or dining room, don’t be hesitant to apply a bright hue. Consider painting an accent wall to attract emphasis to a particular feature, such as a fireplace or a row of windows. Experiment with painting or wallpapering the insides of built-in bookcases or niches to make them stand out.

MAKE THE BEDROOMS MORE LUXURIOUS 

With a well-made bed draped in rich sheets, create a welcoming and calm primary bedroom. By tucking a huge comforter into a soft-colored duvet, you may achieve the plump and fluffy effect seen in high-end hotels. Use a solid-colored duvet and shams, throw pillows, and extra blankets to add color. Remove personal stuff from nightstands and keep them uncluttered.

ACCESSORIZE IN GROUPS OF THREE

A space may be made more appealing by mixing the proper accessories. Odd numbers, especially three, are preferable when it comes to eye-pleasing accessorizing. Instead of arranging three accessories in a row, picture a triangle and place one object at each point. 

It’s also crucial to consider scale, so make sure your group of three has a variety of heights and widths, with the largest object in the back and the smallest at the front. Color, form, texture, or other unifying qualities can be used to group items for maximum impact.

CURTAINS CAN BE USED TO TRICK THE EYES

Window treatments, when hung correctly, may make a space appear larger. Use drapes that are the same color as your walls to make the area appear larger due to the continuous tone. Hang curtains over the window to give the impression of height. They should begin at the ceiling and work their way down to the floor, barely brushing it. Allowing them to congregate or puddle on the floor is not a good idea.

Summary: House Staging Tips

When it comes to selling your home, you want it to appear its best for any potential buyers that come in the door. This is where home staging comes in. Home staging is a type of decoration that emphasizes your home’s best features and allows potential buyers to visualize themselves living there. If you do everything correctly, you should have no trouble selling your home quickly.

If you have any questions about house staging tips contact me today.